Officials representing the Government emphasised on Sunday the desired solution framework for the Cyprus issue and President Nikos Christodoulides’ proposal for an enhanced role of the EU in the peace talks, during their addresses in memorial services, in honour to those who fell during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, in 1974.
Minister of Defence, Michalis Giorgallas, who delivered a memorial address during a service in Kornos, a village in Larnaka district, said that we owe to everyone who fell in battle defending our homeland, who died as refugees without returning to their (Turkish occupied) homes, and to the future generations of Cyprus a sound, functional and viable solution of the Cyprus issue.
He added that “we seek the resumption of peace talks, which, through sincere intention and mutual understanding, will lead us to the long-awaited solution of the Cyprus problem, a solution in which anachronistic guarantees will be a thing of the past.”
On her part, Anna Koukkides-Procopiou, Minister of Justice and Public Order, who was addressing a memorial service in Anafotia, also in Larnaka district, said that Cyprus paid a heavy price in all the national challenges it faced and unfortunately the vindication of its struggles is yet to come.
She added that the Greek Cypriot side requested the appointment of a United Nations envoy and a European Union envoy, noting that it is ready to discuss a solution as defined in the United Nations’ resolutions. “A solution of a Bizonal Bicommunal Federation with political equality on the basis of which the rights of Cypriots will be guaranteed, which will ensure the European acquis, which will provide for the end of the occupation and the end of the anachronistic system of guarantees. A solution that will be fair, in order to be sustainable and ensure the peace, growth and well-being of all the inhabitants of our country,” she concluded.
The proposal by the President of the Republic Nikos Christodoulides for a more active involvement of the EU in the efforts to restart the negotiations is a modern and sober approach, which not only takes advantage of our status as an EU member state and the incentives that the EU possesses, but also will contribute definitively to the efforts of the United Nations, Government Spokesperson Constantinos Letymbiotis said on Sunday in his memorial speech for the heroes of Yeroskipou, a village in Paphos district.
He added that “we remain committed to reaching a definitive solution to the Cyprus problem, within the agreed framework, on the basis of the Bizonal Bi-communal Federation with political equality, in accordance with the resolutions of the UNSC and the European acquis, with one sovereignty, one citizenship and one international personality.”
“The great diplomatic effort of President Christodoulides will continue, it is our historical responsibility to never give up the effort, to continue until the moment when Cyprus is no longer the only divided country in Europe, until the Cyprus problem is not an open wound in the heart of Europe,” the Government Spokesperson noted.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.
Source: Cyprus News Agency